Veterans Agent Orange Exposure Equity Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2569 To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for a presumption of service connection for diseases associated with exposure to certain herbi- cide agents for veterans who served in close proximity to the Republic of Vietnam, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 15, 2021 Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. TITUS, Mr. SIRES, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mr. CARSON, and Mr. KILMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for a presumption of service connection for diseases associated with exposure to certain herbicide agents for veterans who served in close proximity to the Republic of Vietnam, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Agent Or- 4 ange Exposure Equity Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2569.IH H2569 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2569 IH SEC. 2. PRESUMPTIONS OF SERVICE CONNECTION FOR DIS- 1 EASES ASSOCIATED WITH EXPOSURE TO CER- 2 TAIN HERBICIDE AGENTS FOR VETERANS 3 WHO SERVED IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE 4 REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1116 of title 38, United 6 States Code, is amended— 7 (1) by striking ‘‘, during active military, naval, 8 or air service, served in the Republic of Vietnam 9 during the period beginning on January 9, 1962, 10 and ending on May 7, 1975’’ each place it appears 11 and inserting ‘‘performed covered service’’; 12 (2) by striking ‘‘performed active military, 13 naval, or air service in the Republic of Vietnam dur- 14 ing the period beginning on January 9, 1962, and 15 ending on May 7, 1975’’ each place it appears and 16 inserting ‘‘performed covered service’’; 17 (3) by striking subsections (b) through (e) and 18 redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (b); and 19 (4) by adding at the end the following new sub- 20 section: 21 ‘‘(c) In this section, the term ‘covered service’ means 22 active military, naval, or air service— 23 ‘‘(1) performed in the Republic of Vietnam dur- 24 ing the period beginning on January 9, 1962, and 25 ending on May 7, 1975; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2569.IH H2569 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2569 IH ‘‘(2) performed in Thailand— 1 ‘‘(A) at a United States Army base or 2 Royal Thai Air Force base during the period 3 beginning on January 9, 1962, and ending on 4 May 7, 1975; or 5 ‘‘(B) at the Royal Thai Army Replacement 6 Training Center, Pranburi Military Reservation 7 during the period beginning January 1, 1964, 8 and ending on April 30, 1964; 9 ‘‘(3) performed in Laos during the period be- 10 ginning on December 1, 1965, and ending on Sep- 11 tember 30, 1969; or 12 ‘‘(4) performed in Cambodia at Mimot or Krek, 13 Kompon Cham Province during the period beginning 14 on April 16, 1969, and ending on April 30, 1969.’’. 15 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 16 (1) SECTION HEADING.—The heading for sec- 17 tion 1116 is amended by inserting ‘‘, or in close 18 proximity to,’’ before ‘‘the Republic of Viet- 19 nam’’. 20 (2) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections 21 at the beginning of chapter 11 of such title is 22 amended by striking the item relating to section 23 1116 and inserting the following new item: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2569.IH H2569 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2569 IH ‘‘1116. Presumptions of service connection for diseases associated with exposure to certain herbicide agents; presumption of exposure for vet- erans who served in, or in close proximity to, the Republic of Vietnam’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2569.IH H2569 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS